Veritas
by Pontifex Maximus
Summary: Shortly after the crucifixion of the Christ. Pilate and his wife have a short conversation after which Pilate realizes how hard being a Roman procurator can be.


_My first story. Please, forgive me my mistakes, for I am not a native speaker._

_The story takes place after the crucifixion of the Christ. Claudia Procles is a historical character._

_Veritas means "The Truth" in Latin._

* * *

Claudia Procles sat on a stone bench in the corridor. The wind was playing with the curtains and blinding with the sand.

Jerusalem cried after Messiah.

Procles tried to complete her thoughts. There was a mess in her head – she saw her undecided husband, enraged crowd and someone's blood. She heard the sound of the roman soldiers' whip and the screams of people; she heard also her own silent weeping and her husband's halting breath.

Pontius Pilate wished he was dead. His attempts to convince the Pharisees that the sentenced man was innocent were useless. He decided to wash his hands and declared he is innocent of this very Just Man's blood.

Claudia hid her face in her hands. Her husband's suffering was hers.

She was sitting motionless for a moment, then she rose and went straight to Pilate's chambers.

He was standing at the window, looking at the place where Christ was sentenced to death. His eyes were closed and his skin grey, like a dead man's skin.

"Why hadn't I refused Tiberius' proposition to be the procurator of Judea?" asked Pilate.

Claudia walked up to him and embraced him tightly from behind, her cheek resting on his back. She felt the cool metal of his chestplate on her skin.

"We all were blind, my love" she said after a moment of silence. "Even I"

He turned around suddenly and took her face in both of his hands. He looked her straight in the eye – her eyes were blue, wise and big. They seemed exactly the same as ten years ago. To his surprise, they didn't hold sorrow, but an incredible understanding.

For a moment he didn't want to believe that his wife heard what he couldn't hear – the Truth. But then, in his mind, Pilate heard his own question – what is Truth? Then came the simplest answer he could get – I am the Truth.

And then Pontius Pilate realized that the whole truth he was so desperately looking for was in his wife's eyes and only there.

He recalled the remembrances; they weren't as painful as always. Claudia looked at her husband with love and sympathy, but also with respect.

"I never thought you would win with yourself, Pontius" she said "But today you did it"

Pilate made an effort to feel comforted by Procles' words.

"I've lost too much" he responded "I didn't want to lose you as well."

Claudia stepped back.

"You didn't do this for me, don't lie. You heard the Truth."

Pilate shook his head.

"I didn't understand it then"

"But now you do."

He embraced his wife without a word. He led her towards the bench and let her sit on his lap. He watched the wind play with her bronze curls and the sun shine in her eyes. Claudia's long eyelashes reached to her eyebrows; thick, dark and noble.

Procles was a specific woman. She wasn't beautiful, but not unattractive. Her small, thin body contrasted with the cascade of long curls reaching to the bottom of her spine. It made her form look a bit thicker than it was. Pilate recalled the memory of her fifteen years ago, when they met. She was just a teenager, but with remarkable intelligence. Pontius was always impressed by her knowledge; she used to surprise him with knowing history and law. He learned from her more that from anybody else.

"Look" he said suddenly "Our plant has bloomed"

Indeed, near to the window was a medium-sized plant with red, big flowers.

Claudia smiled to herself.

"It's a sign" she remarked "It has bloomed for the first time in four years."

Pilate touched his wife's blushed cheek.

"Let's hope the man will forgive me" he whispered. "Do you know what he told me when I asked him to defend himself, for I have the power to sentence him or to set him free?"

"No"

"He said…" Pilate hesitated for a while. "He said I have no power over him but what I was given from above."

Claudia's eyes sparkled in the sun. She looked and the Golgotha visible from the window.

"He has forgiven you" she said, sincere. "For he died for you as well".


End file.
